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Tag: Libya

Ivan Eland | Wednesday October 14, 2015 at 10:22 AM PST | Comments Off on Debate: Hillary Clinton’s Judgment, as Secretary of State

The most outrageous statement on foreign policy in the Democratic debate was that Hillary Clinton defended the overthrow of Libyan Muammar Gaddafi by saying that it involved no U.S. ground troops and led to the first democratic election ever in Libya. She forgot to mention that because of a vacuum of leadership after the...Read More »

...that 9/11 was successfully carried out because American government agencies with very large budgets, and with more than sufficient spying authority, ignored multiple reports that had been spoon-fed them by their own agents: In a memo from the Phoenix FBI to headquarters, the agents recommended an urgent nationwide review of flight schools “for any...Read More »

Anthony Gregory | Wednesday September 25, 2013 at 8:13 AM PST | Comments Off on The Emperor in Denial

President Obama tries to have it both ways when talking of American foreign policy. He sold himself to the public in 2008 as a more prudential steward of U.S. power. He would avoid “dumb wars,” as he had called the Iraq fiasco in a speech years before. He would save money by bringing the...Read More »

Anthony Gregory | Tuesday September 3, 2013 at 10:46 AM PST | Comments Off on The Twisted Premises Implicit in the Drive for War

On its own terms, the government’s case for war with Syria has problems. We cannot deny the monstrousness of Assad’s regime, but the Obama administration has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Syrian state is responsible for the particular chemical weapons atrocity that supposedly justifies a strike. Some of the very...Read More »

Today Obama enjoys his inauguration bash. It is also Martin Luther King Day, and the president was sworn in on the Civil Rights leader’s own Bible. Across the spectrum, Americans celebrate King’s Civil Rights leadership. Yet he was just as prophetic and bold in opposing the U.S. war in Vietnam. He is less remembered...Read More »

In last night’s presidential debate, both candidates claimed to run on a promise of peace and against the policies of George W. Bush. Obama criticized the Republicans for going to war in Iraq and took Romney to task for his bellicose rhetoric. A bit more surprisingly, Romney congratulated Obama on executing bin Laden but...Read More »

President Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk in the White House saying “The Buck Stops Here!” In this context, it is interesting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she takes responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. I am not sure what...Read More »

Whether it was a planned terrorist attack in response to the U.S. interventions in the region, an assault involving past U.S. allies in the Libya war, or a mob reaction to the hateful anti-Islam movie whose actors say they were duped into starring in it, the murder of four Americans, including diplomat Chris Stevens,...Read More »

In light of Obama’s “National Defense Resources Preparedness” Order, I’d like to comment on a troubling trend I’ve seen in American discourse about war since 9/11. From left to right, it was often said that the U.S. government’s interventions abroad as well as its activities at home did not rise to the level of...Read More »

The Supreme Court is set to decide on the constitutionality of Obama’s health care reform, particularly its individual mandate—the forcing of American to buy health insurance. Opponents of the law especially worry that the precedent would mean that the federal government could essentially mandate or prohibit any commercial behavior in the guise of interstate...Read More »